Facts and Figures

1957  The British Egg Marketing Board begins trading in June - its aim is to bring stability to the market and give consumers a regular supply of high quality eggs at reasonable prices.

1957  The British Lion mark is introduced and eggs are required to be stamped with their specific grade and packing station number.

1957  ‘Go to work on an egg’ advertising campaign is launched.

1960s  UK egg consumption peaks at nearly 5 per person per week.

1960s  Emergence of 'cholesterol hypothesis', linking diet to increased blood cholesterol levels and increased risk of heart disease. As a result, dietary cholesterol in foods like eggs was linked directly to an increased risk of heart disease (this is now recognised to have been a gross oversimplification).

1971  The British Egg Marketing Board is replaced by the Eggs Authority, a statutory body.

1973  The accession period commences for the UK’s entry into the EEC. Eggs became subject to the EEC Egg Marketing Regulations, governing quality standards, grade sizing, labelling and packaging.

1986  The Egg Authority is abolished & The British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) is set up, funded by the industry on a voluntary basis.

1988  In December Health Minister Edwina Currie begins a crisis in the egg industry when she announces that most UK egg production is affected by salmonella. Egg sales drop by 60% overnight.

1990s  General acceptance that for most people the intake of saturated fat is a more significant risk factor for coronary heart disease than dietary cholesterol.

1998  The Lion mark is reintroduced to signify British eggs produced to higher standards of food safety including vaccination of hens against salmonella, a ‘best before’ date stamped on the egg shell and full traceability of hens, eggs and feed.

1998  Delia Smith’s ‘How to Cook’ programme features a recipe for boiling the perfect egg, sparking a huge increase in sales of eggs.